Foreign Affairs Committee

The Committee consists of eleven Members of Parliament, drawn from the three largest political parties. It is appointed to monitor the policy, administration and expenditure of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and its associated public bodies, including the British Council and the BBC World Service.

The Committee chooses its own subjects of inquiry. More details of its mode of working are given in the Role of the Committee section. It takes written and oral evidence and produces reports to which the Government issues a response. The variety of work undertaken by the Committee, as well as work carried out by its predecessors in earlier Parliaments, can be viewed using the Reports and Publications section.